


all the embers in my blood are yours

by harlock



Series: hell isn't where we're going, it's where we've been [5]
Category: Captain Harlock
Genre: Alternate Canon, Established Relationship, Lazy Mornings, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Sleepy Kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 12:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14520450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harlock/pseuds/harlock
Summary: "They haunt us, reminding us of our sins and our fears. But they'll never compare to what we have now and what we've gained."





	all the embers in my blood are yours

There is never total silence on the _Arcadia_. 

It's filled with the background noise of an old battleship, of her powerful engines running and ticking like clockwork, and the hum of her pipelines and conduits, the main computer beeping and trilling with activity once in a while. It's a pleasant white noise and Yama felt much too comforted by it on the best of days. 

He was awake too early for the night cycle to be done, he knew that much. The lighting was still dimmed, the windows still shadowed, and Harlock was still breathing in the same slow and steady rhythm he'd grown used to. More often than not, he found himself waking to his head tucked under Harlock's chin or on his chest, or having burrowed himself into the Captain's side. There were nights when it was just the two of them like that, so deeply entwined and meshed in the dark, he wasn't sure where his limbs ended and Harlock's began. 

Yama found his head pillowed on Harlock's shoulder this time, with an arm wrapped loosely around his back and the other tucked beneath the pillows; he knew why, there was a knife under there, one Yama had gifted him a while back. Somehow, it had become a small talisman for Harlock, an anchor when the nightmares would not release him; it was a twisted way of thinking, but neither of them cared. And from the tension Yama felt in his shoulder, Harlock had dreamt hard in the night, and had yet to resurface entirely from it.

Tilting his head up, Yama could see the silhouette of Harlock's features in the dark, the faint remnants of a frown held in sleep, and the clench of his jaw like he'd been holding back screams all night. Shifting carefully, Yama lifted himself up and brushed Harlock's wild hair from his eyes, and kissed his temple above his scarred eye.

The more butterfly kisses he laid, the more Harlock seemed to relax beside him, and soon a scarred hand found its way into his hair to push him close so a sleepy pirate could claim his mouth in a lazy kiss. A low hum sounded from the elder as Yama nipped on his lip, teased the bite with his tongue, and delved in to kiss him again. He felt Harlock's sleepy smile, the tiny pull of his lips as Yama moved under the covers to straddle him and rest atop him, combing hands into his messy hair and deepening the kiss until Harlock shuddered beneath him.

Yama pulled away when he felt Harlock grab for his hips to keep him in place, lifting his head to meet the hooded eye watching him with sudden wakefulness, "Hey..."

"Hello." Harlock's lips quirked into a wider smile, and his gaze wandered around the dark bedroom for a moment before focusing on Yama again, a brow arching curiously, "Quite early, don't you think?"

Yama shrugged one shoulder and settled more comfortably in his chest, one hand reaching to rake gently through his partner's hair, "Maybe. But you'd been dreaming again and you don't make a comfy pillow when you're dreaming."

Harlock made a noise in the back of his throat, running his hands up Yama's bare back and down again, fingertips skimming along his vertebrae in sweet succession, "I'm sorry. They are... not as bad as they used to be. They're getting better, but..." He trailed off, a slight frown creasing his brows, but Yama waved it off.

"It's fine, our nightmares will never completely go away." Yama lowered his head to kiss the corner of Harlock's mouth, "They haunt us, reminding us of our sins and our fears. But they'll never compare to what we have now and what we've gained."

Harlock chuckled, and turned his head enough to meet his lips in another lingering kiss, "You've been spending too much time with Miimei."

Yama grinned impishly, seeing the way Harlock's eyes crinkled at the corners with his tentative smiles, "So? She's a great conversationalist."

"When she's drinking, perhaps."

Whenever Harlock tossed out a sly one-liner, it did funny things to Yama's insides; a twisting mix of warmth and exasperation. Because he had to remember, Harlock hadn't interacted with people besides Miimei and his crew, that his social skills had suffered in a century of solitude on the _Arcadia_ , and that both of them were still learning one another's boundaries and each exploring the other little by little.

Yama dropped his head on Harlock's shoulder to muffle his giggles, his own body shaking with it even as Harlock wrapped warm arms around him and rolled them onto their sides. He nuzzled into Yama's sleep-mussed hair and pressed kisses into the wild locks under Yama broke into full-on laughter when the elder skimmed calloused fingertips down his side to his hip.

"Are you done?" Harlock murmured against his neck, lips brushing his skin with every word and sending little sparks of pleasure down his spine. 

Yama's laughter subsided into hiccups and chuckles as he lifted his head and allowed Harlock more access to his throat, "Maybe. I'll let you know."

It was sometime after five AM, the _Arcadia_ sang a quiet mechanical lullaby, and two pirates lay tangled with limbs and sheets, basking in the hour to just _be_.

 


End file.
